Silent Dance

This year, Oakwood hosted our second Silent Dance to promote Autism Acceptance Month. This inclusive event was a party for both Oakwood Academy and St. Jude’s Academy to, "Come Shine Bright Together". The Silent Dance was a great way for students with various sensory needs to gather and have a fun dance party without the anxiety of loud music. Students from both schools converged together with food, drinks and glow sticks to dance under the stars. By providing the students with a choice in how they could participate, this allowed them the opportunity to enjoy the experience and connect with other students.

We raised $1,875. These funds will go towards new sensory equipment, toys and tools to support our students in having an optimal learning environment. We thank our DJ – Just Boj, for volunteering his time to play music for the dance. We thank Cass, Janique, Hope and our amazing placement students who put together the dance, created the décor and planned an amazing day. We look forward to doing this again next year!

There are many great resources out there for you to learn more about Autism. Please feel free to explore some of the websites below to continue your education and knowledge about how to support the autistic community.

• ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Group) - https://autisticadvocacy.org

• Learn From Autistics - www.learnfromautistics.com

• Autistikids - http://www.autistikids.com

• Autism Acceptance - https://autismacceptance.com https://autismacceptance.com/resources/

• https://autisticadvocacy.org